Curleys Wife Analysis

In the novel, Of Mice and Men, there are many characters who face different conflicts that they have to overcome, whether it is man vs. man, man vs. self, or man vs. society. One of the characters who faces both internal and external conflicts is Curley’s wife. Curley’s wife is known for being the ideal stereotypical woman; always wears makeup, is always wearing a dress with heels, and is described as a “tart.” Although Curley’s wife has these qualities that may make you think she's just an average woman, she has a many conflicts she faces along with tragic events and isolation.

' “ (Steinbeck 32). Curley 's Wife, innocent just like Crooks, is also judged and persecuted by others. She is not even given a name, which does not give her any dignity. Curly’s wife is always called out by the ranchers. Even after her own tragic death Curley 's Wife is still seen as the cause of trouble. Candy believes that Curley 's Wife is at fault. Candy lets his anger out on Curley 's Wife because he has more power than her, “ 'You God damn tramp, ' he said viciously. 'You done it di 'n 't you? I s 'pose you 're glad. Ever 'body knowed you 'd mess things up. You wasn 't no good. You ain 't no good now, you lousy tart. ' “ (Steinbeck 95). Candy calling out Curley 's Wife represents society treating her as a cast off. Curley 's Wife is lonely because she is the only woman on the ranch, however because of this, she is always being treated cruelly and without respect.

Curley's Wife is first shown as a dangerous desperate villain in the novella by Steinbeck. You can see this from the repetition of the word red that Steinbeck. For example

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, is a book about two companions George and Lennie, who are running from troubles in their past job. George and Lennie are different from the rest of the society, in the year of 1930 where every man is for himself, that’s not the deal with George and Lennie. They stick together no matter how different they are. This is a novel that will let you experience the hopelessness, struggles and loneliness of the protagonist and the antagonist, during this period. One such character is a well- known woman referred to as “Curley’s wife”. In the novel of Mice and Men, Steinbeck’s use of Curley’s wife as a symbol of victimize to the rules and regulations of society in 1930. (fix by adding negative word)

The next time Steinbeck presents Curleys wife is in her conversation with Lennie, Candy and Crooks. In this extract we see how Curleys wife clearly enjoys having power over others and because she is the only girl on the ranch she is prone to discrimination by being made to feel like one of Curleys possessions. We first get

Curley’s wife - a flirtatious, mysterious women in the novel. She is the only women that is described by Steinbeck in the novel. How we call her- “Curley’s wife” shows that she is just a possession of Curley. And the others names that George and Candy had given to her are “looloo; jailbait; tart”; these names show how badly she was treated in the ranch particularly and the sexism in American society in 20s - 30s generally.

Steinbeck has written ''Of Mice And Men '' about an adventure of George and Lennie trying to accomplish their American dream's during the Great Depression during the 1930's where thousands of people lost their jobs in the Wall Street Crash making them feel hopeless. George and Lennie come to work at a ranch near Soledad in California. There they meet fellow ranch mates and a woman called Curley's Wife. In this essay I will focus on how Curley's Wife's personality and actions change throughout the novella and who she affect her and other bunkmates throughout the novella. In addition to that I would be showing how Steinbeck creates tension by using Curleys Wife.

The character of Curley’s Wife is very hard to unravel, as throughout the book, Steinbeck’s representation of women through characters such as George and Candy, is very harsh. This is because the sociological opinion at that time was that they were either, mothers, sisters, or prostitutes,

Stein beck is giving the reader a negative image of her, almost as a sex slave. Curly’s wife is merely viewed as an object of sexual desire yet men are wary of her and avoid contact where possible. She seeks out greater weaknesses in others in order to protect herself or to survive. This she does with her appearance: ‘full rough lips, heavily made up eyes, finger nails red, her hair hung in little clusters’. Her choices of clothes are very feminine and tempting desire. She wants to be admired and noticed. Her actions and mannerisms are also very sexual ‘leans against the door frame so her body is thrown forward.’ Steinbeck is trying to present the character as a tease and an object of desire.

In the novel Curley’s Wife is portrayed as a source of trouble and danger for the men, not only in how she is described, such as ‘Curley’s married a tart’, but also in how Steinbeck portrays her affect on light and hope. Lennie and George first come across Curley’s wife when ‘the rectangle of sunshine in the door way was cut off. A girl was standing there looking in’. She is blocking one of the only light sources into the bunkhouse, which indicates that she is an obstacle on the path to realising hopes and dreams, for Lennie, George and the other men. George is wary of Curley’s Wife and so he warns Lennie ‘ Well you keep away from her, ‘cause she’s a rat trap ’. He suspects that someday she will cause Lennie to get into trouble, thus making it harder to reach their dreams. In the barn towards the end of the novel when Lennie kills Curley’s Wife, ‘ the sun streaks were high on the wall...and the light was growing soft ’. In this situation the light represents her hopes and dreams

In the afternoon of August 26th, 1930, two horrible and unfortunate deaths have occurred on a ranch near the Gabilan Mountains. The victim was the daughter in law of the ranch’s owner. (Due to her husband’s will, we are not to publish her name). She was in the barn house when killed by Lennie Small, a mentally retarded worker that just came to the ranch few days prior to this incident. Lennie left the ranch not long after the murder, but was soon chased down by the ranchers, including the first victim’s husband and several other men, and got shot in the head by his former partner, George Milton, on the bank of an anonymous river.

One reason why Curley’s wife should be blamed for her death is when she came into the bunkhouse where George and Lennie was in, and ask where her husband Curley was. Curley’s wife was dressed like a tart that Lennie couldn’t stop looking at her. Lennie friend George looked away from her and told that Curley was in the bunkhouse a minute ago then left. When Curley’s wife, left George looked at Lennie, who was drooling for her. George got really mad at Lennie and told him “Well, you keep away from her, ‘cause she’s a rat-trap if I ever seen one. You let Curley take the rap.” (32). Therefore, there’s one reason why Curley’s wife got killed by Lennie.

Another symbol is Curley’s wife’s hair. Lennie can’t stop whenever he starts something, just like the girl from Weed. He was stroking the girl’s dress, just like Curley’s hair. We know that whatever he ends up touching and whatever he likes ends up getting destroyed, just like how he accidentally killed Curley’s wife. This monologue has the motif of loneliness. The reason why Curley’s wife tried so hard to talk to Lennie is because of her loneliness. Curley prevented her from talking to other people, and the loneliness made her even talk to someone she thinks is nuts, just like Lennie. In order to get attention, Curley’s wife lets Lennie touch her hair, which leads to her downfall. Lennie also killed Curley’s wife because he had no self-control. Lennie, once he starts something, can’t stop. When he was following George around in the clearing, he couldn’t stop walking after George stopped in front of him. Lennie has no self-control over himself and therefore couldn’t stop himself from stroking her hair, just like for the mice and the

Curley's wife proves to be a flirtatious character in John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. She is the only woman on the ranch and uses her beauty as power to flirt with the guys on the ranch and make her husband jealous. The other guys on the ranch know that she is trouble and refer to her as “jailbait” or “tart” because of the way she dresses and acts to attract attention from all of the guys. Although she is known as trouble on the ranch, she talks a lot about how she was offered to be in the shows, but that dream was crushed by her mother who said that she was too young. During the time this novel was written, women were not well respected and this explains her behaviour throughout the story. Over all, Curley's wife demonstrates to be a tempting, good looking, yet lonely women who often uses her looks to get what she wants.

One character in the story does not even have a name: Curley’s wife. Steinbeck illustrates her as someone who is a pawn of those around her. On the surface, she is reduced to a rude and selfish woman. But, if one looks deeper, Curley’s wife’s gender and class hinder her high aspirations and reduces her to ridicule. Her husband restricts her contact with others and does not show any affection towards her. She reveals this while